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Month: September 2018

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1982 Mercedes-Benz 240D

Update 9/26/18: This 240D sold for $7,000.

The W123 Mercedes-Benz 240D is a car that does everything for me. I rotate my 1983 4-speed manual car as one of my daily drivers and despite its many flaws, I appreciate how satisfying it is. When I am driving home from work at night alone on the highway, it is true bliss. Everything is in the right spot, nothing is rattling or shaking, everything fits perfectly, it returns just over 30 mpg and all of that makes you realize why it is considered one of the best cars ever produced. It isn’t all gravy though, because on days when I’m heading to work in traffic and it’s 86 degrees outside, I’m driving it like a maniac just to not get ran over by a tractor tailor because I don’t have enough power to merge on the highway. Then when I do arrive at work, all my coworkers ask me why I look like I just wrestled a bear. Nope, just driving my 240D. I suppose it is not the cars fault because you do need to be a certain kind of crazy to still be daily driving one of these. The newest 240D is now 35 years-old and is well into classic territory and should be treated as such. But no, not me, I’ll suffer for the sake of good ergonomics and forgoing something called a ”car payment.”

This of course leads me to today’s car, a 1982 240D up for bid in Annapolis, Maryland. This car is painted in the rare Mango Green and checks with a just under 62,000 miles which is pretty unheard of when it comes to 240Ds. As you might have guessed, it is extremely clean and shows very little wear at all. What kind of price might it bring? I’m curious to find out.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1982 Mercedes-Benz 240D on eBay

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1993 Mercedes-Benz 600SL

Fall is officially here, so that means in roughly 11 days, we’ll be looking at about four feet of snow. (Florida and California residents excluded.) While there are still some sunny days left, why not enjoy them in none other than a V12 convertible from Mercedes-Benz. Truth be told, if you forced me to go buy a V12 Mercedes-Benz convertible, it wouldn’t take me any time at all the settle on the R129 with the M120 because that is the V12 that wouldn’t have me sleeping inside it because of how unreliable and costly it is. Granted, the M120 still isn’t an inexpensive engine to live with in the grand scheme of things, but compared to the M275 or god-forsaken M137, it is a far easier pill to swallow. Today, I wanted to check out a really tidy 1993 600SL up for sale in New York that has all the little goodies that makes it stand out from what you usually see from these early R129s.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Mercedes-Benz 600SL on eBay

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1997 Porsche 911 Turbo

I think this 1997 Porsche 911 Turbo comes under the heading of “never judge a book by its cover” because while it’s a very lovely car from the outside it is really all about the interior. That’s the part of this one that will have appeal relative to all of the other 993TTs on the market. It’s quite clearly special order. I’ll also be quite upfront and state that I don’t like the way it has all come together. However, I’m very happy that it exists. It shows us the type of things that Porsche has made possible over the years for its more intrepid customers so even if it isn’t what I would do it might give you some ideas. I also think it’s only a couple minor tweaks from looking quite good. Let’s take a look:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 Porsche 911 Turbo on eBay

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Double Take: 1981 and 1982 Porsche 924 Turbos

Recently I looked at the Porsche 924S. For $5,000, it was a ridiculous deal. A decent chunk of 924s appear in good shape from loving homes and that particular 924S looked no different. Lower miles and Euro bumpers only added to its appeal. But not all 924s are created alike. The early Turbo model has been on the rise in value as collectors have begun the hunt for the next deal. That means there’s been speculation among asks on the 931, and prices are all over the market. In January I looked at a solid 1980 that sold for just over $4,000, while a later ’82 I looked at last year sold at nearly triple that amount.

Today we get to see both ends of the spectrum from this duo of ’81 and ’82 931s. And there is more that is interesting beside just the asking prices:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1981 Porsche 924 Turbo on eBay

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2001 Audi S4 Avant

In recent posts I covered both the importance of the B5 chassis and its development into nuclear-grade weaponry in the RS4. In the midst was the substantially more tame yet still quite exciting S4 Avant.

Audi brought the S4 Avant to the United States for the first time in 2001. It joined the sedan lineup and offered a follow-up to the large chassis S6 Avant from 1995. Instead of the traditional inline-5 motivation, though, Audi had developed a new 2.7 liter version of its V6. With a K03 turbocharger strapped to each side, the APB produced 250 horsepower at 5800 rpms and 258 lb.ft of torque at only 1850 revs. Like all the B5s, Audi’s new generation of ‘quattro’ used a T2 Torsen center differential and relied upon an electronic rear differential utilizing the ABS sensors. The B5 chassis used the same technology on the front differential as well and was capable of independently braking each front wheel to try to sort the car out through its dynamic stability program.

But the real fun was that it was available as an Avant and with a 6-speed manual. Just over 1,500 were claimed imported between 2001 and 2002’s model years, with about 600 of those being Tiptronic equipped. Light Silver Metallic was by far the most popular color ordered, and this particular Avant is one of 358 LSM manuals brought in for the 2001 model year:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2001 Audi S4 Avant on Second Daily

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